REPRESENTING JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN 100 COUNTRIES ACROSS SIX CONTINENTS

Controversial procession of Latvian Waffen SS veterans in Riga

Thu, 16 Mar 2017

In the Latvian capital Riga, hundreds of people took part in a march of former Waffen SS members who had fought alongside Nazi Germany during World War II. The march was allowed by Riga municipality despite protests.

The participants held Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian flags and flowers. Among the marchers were several Latvian lawmakers.

The veterans' march has been harshly criticized by a number of international organizations, including the European Jewish Congress, as well as by governments worldwide.

Every 16 March, veterans observe Latvian Legion Day. On 16 March 1944 both divisions of the Latvian Legion fought alongside for the first time against the Soviet Red Army. It was the only battle in World War II led solely by Latvian commanders.

Many Latvians, whose country was under Soviet occupation at the time, saw the German army as a lesser of two evils.

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"Including Jews among the perpetrators of these horrors, and blaming the victims instead of the killers, is a travesty that will only draw us further back to some of the darkest moments in human history.”

The WJC and the Bulgarian Jewish community have made a series of active efforts in recent months to curb the demonstration, engaging with the Bulgarian government to demand a complete administrative ban be placed on the march.

'We cannot stand by in silence as neo-Nazis and anti-Semites march through the streets in the same dangerous manifestation of the very ideology that brought about the near destruction of European Jewry.'

WJC CEO Robert Singer: "The fact you had 42,000 people sitting in the stands, seeing the slogan ‘Say No To Anti-Semitism’, means many people were exposed to it and I think it’s only the start of the process.”

WJC General Counsel Menachem Rosensaft writes in the Boston Herald: 'Just as Jews are commanded at the Passover Seder to remember that we were slaves in Egypt, I can never forget that my parents and I were once stateless refugees.'

WJC Jewish Diplomat Ela Cenudioglu reflects on Holocaust remembrance and the idea behind the World Jewish Congress #WeRemember campaign, after taking part in the Italian Jewish community's annual Run for Remembrance.